Leaderboard

And all this information coming out is precisely why I refused to rush to judgment about Zimmerman's guilt or innocence - the budget deficit we face in this country is not the only one we have; we also have a deficit of rational thought. Zimmerman may well be guilty or he may also be innocent but we won't find out from the press; especially what passes for "press" these days.

Sounds like the Orlando Sentinel went "expert shopping" until they had one with the answer they wanted to hear. Not that THAT ever happens. There are enough whores out there that sooner or later you'll find one that does it the way you like. Testify, that is.

Gee...either of these two look to me like they could be Obummer's son if he had one...I wonder if Obummer is going to inject himself into this incident like it die with Martin/Zimmerman? And gee, these to "kids" were unarmed! Who would have thought it possible that a couple of unarmed "kids" could almost kill an adult?

That looks like a game changa

The Senate has bill passed the committees and is scheduled for the Senate floor but we still need phone calls and emails. Rumors still abound that there may be attempts to add bill killing amendments to it from the floor. Now for the House bills. All the communication I hear is that Representative Jimmy Eldridge, Chairman of the Consumer and Employee Affairs Committee where the bills are assigned, supports these bills and has said the bills will get a full and fair hearing in his committee. The problem is in the SUB-committe. Mark White is the Chairman of the sub-committee and the bills are set to be heard there first. Representative Mark White is NOT being very forthcomming about where he stands on the bills. We need a lot of calls and emails to Representative Mark White telling him that we want these bills heard. Also it would be good to contact the bills sponsor, Representative Eddie Bass and thank him for his support for this and other Second Amendment issues. While a Democrat, it would be hard to find a stronger supporter for our rights. Representative Bass has announced that he is not going to run for re-election. He has always been in our corner in the past and his presence will be greatly missed. I have met and spoken with him and he is a very down-to-earth, common sence regular person. Something the General Assembly could use a lot more of.

Why did they have a camera on to start with? Planned? I'm thinking so.

Hope so. That NBC edit of the 911 call was absolutely egregious. Completely took statement where Zim merely answered dispatcher's question of "white, hispanic, or black" and made it into a "by the way, I'm a racist" statement. - OS

And the shooter is alive ? The very reason I carry...........

I am old enough to remember a time when the press, even though biased toward the left, actually tried to present the news and left most of their opinions for the editorial page and/or made it clear when there were editorializing rather than reporting. Regardless of what some may think about commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levine and Glenn Beck; I believe that were it not for conservative talk radio we would already be nothing more than an European socialist state.

I am part of my Neighborhood Watch although I am not a "watch captain", self-proclaimed or otherwise. We started about a year and a half ago because we noticed a significant increase in burglaries in our neighborhood. We don't have "roving patrols" or anyone even doing that on their own; we simply try to look out for each other and try to notice things that "don't look right". Yeah...you are right, unless someone is actually hurt, police don't seem to be all that interested...the good news is that since we've started watching, the number of burglaries and vandalism has gone done over the past year.

I'm not gonna try to one-up you. I'll just say, you weren't that bad at all.

I open carried today. I can care less if people "freak out" about it. I have a permit that says I can.

It's more of a challenge to keep score when they wear the wrong titles.

I'm with nightrunner - I don't know that I wouldn't carry BOTH.

We don't even need Dems in TN legislature, most of our Republicans stand as fine liberal examples. - OS

I hope to see a large number of them after the elections.

According to the Pensacola Gazette, Bowen chased a black man through the terminal and hotel dining room. The man escaped as Chipley passed by while going to his office.Bowen shouted at Chipley asking why he had not stopped the man and Chipley replied he had nothing to do with it! Bowen proceeded to point his cocked pistol at Chipley who jammed his hand between the hammer and frame preventing it from firing. He snatched the gun from Bowen and hit him over the head with it. The confrontation ended with Bowen leaving swearing to kill Chipley. Here we see again that a weapon disarm is a viable tactic especially if the object of the disarm is very close. It is often much easier to take a gun away from someone than to outdraw the drawn gun. Most people probably look at the disarm as a modern"progressive" technique, but it has been performed as long as people have been pointing guns at each other. Another "modern" item is the backup gun. How many carry a snubnose or small auto as a backup to their primary pistol? There is evidence of backup guns being carried by various individuals in the late 19th century. Wells Fargo detective James B Hume was known to carry a cut down Colt 1860 Army .44 cap and ball revolver.Hume was the man who captured Charles "Black Bart" Boles. Noted El Paso marshal Dallas Stoudemire carried a similarly chopped 1860 Army as a backup to his pair of Smith and Wesson .44 Americans. Wild Bill Hickok was known to carry a derringer or two in his vest as backups to his Colt 1851 Navy pistols. John "Doc" Holliday was also known to carry a .41 caliber Remington derringer also. Though it seems some folks did carry them documented cases of using them seems thin. There is however at least one account. John Wesley Hardin was gambling over a bowling match one day. He had removed his pistols so he could roll, and an argument ensued. His opponent a man named Phil Sublette threatend him and went for his pistol. Hardin pulls a "Bulldog" pistol and sticks it in the man's ear! So not only did Hardin carry his two "belt pistols" but apparently also a "hideout gun" too! Hardin also mentions drawing and firing a derringer at another man.But aside from these instances I have not found many documented cases of small backup guns being employed. The lack of documentation of usage however should not be viewed as an indictment against backups. Most fights just did not go long enough to empty one (or both) "primaries" and then pull the backup too! Much like today, carrying a backup is an insurance policy against a worst case scenario! The last Hardin incident we will look at is his last. On the night of August 19,1895 Hardin stood at the bar of the Acme Saloon in El Paso, drinking and rolling dice with a grocer named Henry Brown. Earlier in the evening Hardin had a heated exchange of words with constable John Selman. In the hours since then Selman had been fuming over the incident. Around midnight while Hardin stood at the bar Selman stepped through the doorway and shot Hardin in the back of the head. He fired several more shots as Hardin fell to the floor. Just like Wild Bill, Hardin met his end not in a shootout, but in an ambush from behind. Hardin had such a reputation as a gunman that even at age 42 folks were not lining up to challenge him. Ambush eliminates the advantage of skill! Though Hardin was armed, reportedly carrying a SW New Frontier 44/40 double action revolver and a Colt 1877 .41 double action, he was shot from behind and had no chance to get his gun into play. It is also interesting to note that Selman said he shot Hardin in the head because Hardin was "known to wear a metal breastplate".The newspapers even reported no sign of a mail shirt on Hardin as it was rumored among the citizens of El Paso that he always wore one. Hardin makes no mention of ever wearing armor but his manuscript was not finished when he was killed. It is also unlikely that he would have mentioned it if he did wear a "vest" as it would not have been smart to "advertise" . Wyatt Earp was also rumored to have worn some type of mail shirt under his shirt, but I can find no documentation of him ever actually doing so. Again, not the sort of thing you tell people. Now before you say "RUBBISH" to this let us look at another historical event. Comanche chief Pohibit Quasha (also known as Iron Shirt or Iron Jacket) was rumored to be impervious to gunfire. He was in fact witnessed having been shot in numerous confrontations to no ill effect. On May 12,1858 on the banks of the South Canadian River after pursuit by John "RIP" Ford's force of Texas Rangers and Brazos River reservation indians Iron Jacket's luck would run out. Indian sharpshooter Jim Pockmark patiently waited for the shot and put a .58 caliber musketball through Iron Jacket's unprotected side. It turns out that armor not magic is what had preserved the chief for so long. He wore an armor breastplate vest left over from the Spanish Conquista hundreds of years before. Hmmm.... maybe something to wear to stop bullets is a good thing? Interestingly though, we see that rifle fire is still a good solution to armored opponents! The final confrontation we will look into is the February 8,1887 streetfight between gambler/gunmen Luke Short and "Long Hair" Jim Courtright. Luke Short was a gambler/gunman who had moved to Fort Worth, Texas from Dodge City , Kansas.He had been a half owner of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City.He was friends with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and had survived several altercations before moving to Texas.In Fort Worth he had bought into the White Elephant Saloon and ran afoul of town marshall Jim Courtright. "Long Hair Jim" Courtright was a gunman of some repute. He was a rumored to be a crack shot, even skilled enough to be able to shoot the dangling ear rings from his wife's ears without harming her. He was reputed to have killed between 6 and 10 men in the performance of his duties. However most of his duties were running a "protection racket" where he fleeced area saloon proprieters for payments for his "protective services". Short refused Courtright's offer for protection and the animosty grew between them. On the night of February 8 an intoxicated Courtright called Short out into the street. Short came out to see what the commotion was. There he was confronted by Courtright. The two men argued for a minute. Short was a notoriously dapper dresser and during the argument he grabbed hold of the lapels of his vest. Courtright yelled out "Don't you pull a gun on me!" and Short answered, replying he had no gun.He told Courtright to see for himself. As the two stood literally face to face Courtright pulled his pistol and projected it toward Short. Now as far as EXACTLY what happened is not clear. Courtright's pistol snagged on a watch chain.But it is unclear whether it was his own or Short's. At the distance they were standing EITHER is possible. Some reports had Courtright shoving the muzzle of his Colt Single Action Army .45 into Short's stomach and the hammer falling with Short's watch chain getting caught between the hammer and frame preventing the gun from firing. Other accounts have Courtright getting tangled in his own watch chain as he drew the pistol. Regardless of whose time piece was involved, Courtright's pistol did not fire.At the same time Short pulled a .38 Colt 1877 DA "Lightning" pistol from his back pocket firing as it came up. The bullet struck the frame of Courtright's pistol and tore off Courtright's right thumb! Courtright passed the pistol to his left hand in an attempt to stay in the fight, but Short took this time to step back and fire three or four rounds into Courtright's chest. Courtright crumpled to the cold street. The next day local hardware stores experienced a run on double action pistols. Word had gotten out about how fast Short had dispatched a gunman of Courtright's skill and reputation.Short had used the double action Colt to good effect, and folks thought that Courtright's demise surely had more to do with his single action pistol than picking on the wrong man.Much like today people thought it had more to do with the equipment than the skill and nerve of the operator. In this final fight we see all the elements of a classic close quarter engagement stemming from an alcahol fueled argument.The combatants begin the fight at range close enough to touch each other. Courtright yells for Short to not pull a gun , likely in an attempt to make murder look like self defense.Even today what the witnesses hear may be as important as what they see! Again we see a draw getting fouled when it is made from street clothes and not from "range gear". Do we see a pattern developing? We also see projecting the pistol toward the target when you are in touching distance is a bad idea. Short's fast draw and shooting along the line of presentation of the pistol saved the day here. Courtright showed good instinct if not good judgement. After being wounded in the gun hand he tried to pass it off to the off hand to stay in the fight. The problem was he was facing a skilled gunman. Training for the lowest common denominator of an opponent has always been bad for your health! And as always luck sometimes plays a part! I hope this has shown a glimpse of how the REAL wild west gunfights were. They were fast,close up, violent affairs that rarely looked anything like TV or movies.They really are just like what we encounter today. The equipment changes but the dynamics are the same. If this interests you further you might read some of my source material. The Life Of John Wesley Hardin as Told By Himself by J.W. Hardin, John Wesley Hardin; Dark Angel of Texas by Leon Metz, The Last Gunfighter by Richard Marohn, Wild Bill Hickok-Gunfighter by Joseph Rosa,Guns and the Gunfighters by the Guns and ammo editors, and the History Channel's Wild West tech.

I've had a truce with wasps before, until one of them stung me in the face. You just can't trust 'em. I wiped out their entire village after they broke the truce.

Did she copyright the phrase “If I had a son he would look like Trayvon.� Because I would bet that phrase is already on the T-Shirt presses.